Fuel chest



' June 10, 1930. ASANDELL 1,762,530

FUEL CHEST Filed Nov, 5, 1928 Zfg] [0N 6 Sande By MJEM Attorney Patented June 10, 1930 NET fillATES FATENT OFFIQE FUEL CHEST Application filed November 5, 1928.

My present invention relates to an improved fuel chest for household or domestic use, and of the type designed especially for use as a container for coal. While the 55 chest of my invention is designed particularly for use as a coal receptacle, it will be understood that the container or chest may be converted and employed for various other purposes to which household recepgo tacles are applied, when not used in the employment of its specified functions. The invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of parts involving the hinged fuel gate with the cabinet or casing of the device as will hereinafter be more specifically set forth. In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one complete example of the physical embodiment of my invention wherein the parts are '1: combined and arranged according to the best mode I have thus far devised for the practical application of the principles of my invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the fuel chest embodying my invention. Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view as at line 22 of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a horizontal sec ional view as at line 33 of Figure 1 and Figure i is an enlarged detail view of part of the gate and one of its braces.

In the preferred form of my invention I utilize a box or cabinet 1 of' rectangular shape, which is provided with four corner posts or legs 2, and ornamented as desired so that the chest may take its place as a piece of household furniture.

The chest is provided with a top or lid 3, hinged at a, and of course the lid is opened to give access to the interior of the chest when the latter is being filled with fuel, as coal.

' As illustrated in the drawings, the chest is fashioned of wood, and provided with an interior lining 5 of sheet'metal to protect the wood and provide means whereby the interior of the chest may readily be cleansed and maintained in a sanitary condition.

The front wall 6 of the chest is provided with a laterally extending opening as 7, 7 and at the center of the opening it is en- Serial No. 317,130.

large'd as at 8, and the bottom 9 of the chest, just inside the opening, curves upwardly as at 10 to the front, elevated ledge or rib 11 of the bottom. This arrangement of the fuel opening and the ledge and declining, curved face 10, permit a convenient insertion of the coal shovel into the opening, the curved face 10 guides the shovel into the coal as the shovel is pushed into the opening, and when the loaded shovel is ,withdrawn the ledge is used as a fulcrum for elevating the front edge of the loaded shovel. The ledge and upwardly curved face also prevent escape of any fuel that might fall from the front edge of the shovel as the latter is being withdrawn, as well as providing a barrier for the escape of coal from the bulk within the chest.

a handle 12 is shown on the front wall of the chest which, in addition to its usual functions, may be used to han or, suspend a shovel or other implement.

In order that a large quantity of coal may be maintained in the chest, and to regulate the feed of the contained coal toward the outlet opening 8, I provide an adjustable gate that may be adapted to fine or coarser coal. The gate is fashioned from a plate 13, preferably of metal that is hinged at 1% within the chest and fashioned with spaced slots 15 near its opposite ends.

On the gate is mounted an adjustable eX- tension 16 and the gate and its extension are secured together by bolts 17 passing through the slots, and wing nuts 18, the bolts and nuts being used to hold the parts rigidly in their adjusted relation. As the gate is hinged at the inside of the front wall above the opening 8, its free end may be swung toward the opening to entirely close the opening under some circumstances, or the free end may be swung upwardly and away from the opening to form a feed hopper in the upper part of the chest from which the coal feeds by gravity toward the opening 8. By adjusting the extension with relation to the gate proper, the size of the gate may be adapted to various sizes of coal, and the gate as a whole may be adjusted with rela tion to the opening to regulate the feed of the coal, depending on the size of the lumps.

For holding the gate in adjusted position I provide near the ends of the extension a pair of slots 19 to accommodate a pair of rack arms 20 that are pivoted at 21 in the sidewalls of the opening 7, and these rack arms have teeth or notches 22 that co-act with complementary bars 23' of the slots 19. Thus it will be apparent that the gate may be swung on its hinges and the bars 23 be caused to engage complementary notches on the rack arms so that the latter will perform the functions of braces and hold the gate in adjusted position for the r purpose of regulating the gravity feed of coal from the upper or hopper portion of the chest toward the fuel opening.

When it is desired to convert the chest for use as a closed receptacle for other commodities, the gate is swung down to dotted line position in Figure 2, parallel with the front wall, for the purpose of closing the front opening.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is A fuel chest comprising a cabinet having a hinged top and supporting legs; a fixed metal lining in said cabinet; a fuel discharge opening near the bottom of said cabinet; a fuel retaining ledge in the bottom of said fuel discharge opening; a gate hinged above said opening adapted to form a feed hopper; an adjustable extension on said gate; a pair of braces extending through slots in the adjustable extension and spaced notches on said braces c0-acting with the walls of the slots in the extension to hold the-gate in the desired position. 1

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CARL A. SANDELL. 

